About that Wal-Mart gang initiation story….

From Snopes:The first rumor listed above, about impending murder in the Memphis area, began surfacing in e-mail in mid-July 2005. No such murders or attempted murders were reported, no gang members were arrested, and no one spoke up about having planned to participate in the supposed plot.

Since then, many similar versions of this basic rumor, all sharing common elements (e.g., gang initiates will be murdering white women, children, or the eldery at various “big box” store locations), have periodically appeared with different dates and locales mentioned for the purported soon-to-take-place initiation killings. One of the many versions in circulation was prefaced with information about two grisly murders that took place in Chicago in November 2007. While the murders it described were real, police had not linked the two crimes, and neither of the women was kidnapped from or murdered at a Wal-Mart or a Target. There was also no reason to believe the death of Hazel Lewis or of Theresa Bunn was gang-related. Instead, it appeared that information about two horrific murders of black women have been used to dress up the false scare.

The rumor seems to have begun with statements about gang initiation violence planned to take place at a mall or shopping center that an unidentified woman says she overheard in a bathroom and which she subsequently reported to police in that city. The rumor was unsubstantiated — there was no guarantee the woman who reported it actually did hear such a conversation or, even if she did, that the people she heard speaking weren’t playing a practical joke on

Got that? It’s bogus. It’s lame. It’s not real.

Shame on any one for spreading it. And I pity the fools who believed it.

Alternate Ending 2: Actually, it’s not an urban legend. It’s an IQ test. If you believed it or shared it…you fail. Sorry.

Alternate Ending 3: Actually, it’s an elaborate plan by K-Mart to make a comeback by ruining the business at other stores.